On September 8, 2023, the CFTC issued an order simultaneously filing and settling charges against an individual, Jacob Orvidas, for fraudulently soliciting market participants to trade leveraged bitcoin in an unregistered commodity pool from approximately October 2017 through July 2020 in violation of:

According to the order, Orvidas promised pool participants protection of their investment and significant profits but lost the funds and provided fictitious account statements to the participants. Orvidas covered up these losses by lying and providing pool participants with fictitious spreadsheets. The order requires Orvidas to pay over $2 million in restitution, as well as a $500,000 civil monetary penalty, and to cease and desist from further violations of the CEA. The order also imposes a 10-year registration and trading ban against Orvidas.

In response to the Orvidas order, CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero issued a statement advising consumers to be wary of illegal actions in the crypto space and providing a list of free tools that consumers can utilize to further protect themselves against crypto fraud. In a September 11, 2023 speech, Goldsmith Romero provided further views on modernizing investor protection by re-proposing a National Financial Fraud Registry, which would provide a publicly available list of companies and individuals that have been convicted or fined for financial fraud.

Goldsmith Romero initially proposed the registry in 2019 when she was acting as Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. She asserts that a centralized registry would also help authorities identify repeat offenders and deter potential fraudsters. A national financial fraud registry would enable each federal agency, as well as state and local agencies, to register their convictions, sentencings, civil fines, and resolved enforcement actions, and would make this information available to the general public.